On the 25th of May, the inaugural All-Ireland SFC round-robin matches for Dublin and Donegal will be broadcasted live on GAAGo. The second week of fixtures in the All-Ireland series will include all four matches occurring on Saturday. Two of these matches, Dublin v Roscommon and Donegal v Tyrone, will be available for live-viewing on GAAGo. Dessie Farrell’s Dublin team will challenge Roscommon at Croke Park at 5pm, whilst Donegal’s clash against Tyrone is scheduled for 7.15pm at MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey.
Furthermore, Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh will square off against Westmeath on home ground at Athletic Grounds at 6pm while Louth has a home game against Meath to be played in Grattan Park, Inniskeen at 5.30pm. Louth, unable to accommodate the expected game attendance at a local venue, will play their home match in Monaghan. Louth secretary, Bob Doheny said that they decided on Inniskeen, as it was close to home, with only an 18km distance from Ardee and 16km from Dundalk.
It so happens that Louth’s Tommy Durnin, a known midfielder, is part of the Inniskeen Grattans team. This implies that two out of the three round-robin games for Ger Brennan’s team will be in Monaghan. In recent times, Louth has used St Mary’s in Ardee for league games, but the venue’s capacity is restricted to around 2,800.
Current expectations of the capacity for Inniskeen Grattans is between 7,000 and 7,500, according to a health and safety report being prepared. The fixture is poised to be a sold-out event. “Inniskeen feels like the ideal venue as we already have a good relationship with them”, added Doheny.
While the county anxiously awaits the completion of their new stadium in Dundalk, the Louth football team have often chosen Páirc Tailteann in Navan as their preferred location for iconic matches, including last year’s All-Ireland round-robin event against Cork. However, with both Louth and Meath eyeing progression from Group Four, notable for the inclusion of Kerry and Monaghan, Louth was unwilling to offer their neighbours an advantage by selecting Navan to host the game against Colm O’Rourke’s Royals team.
Following their first match, Louth is set to face off against Monaghan in an away game, before squaring up to Kerry at a neutral location.
The first round of All-Ireland SFC fixtures are set to take place on Saturday, May 25th. Group 1 sees Armagh pitted against Westmeath at the Athletic Grounds, starting at 6pm. Group 2 features Dublin playing Roscommon at Croke Park from 5pm – a double-header, which is also featuring the All-Ireland U20B Richie McElligot Cup match of Roscommon versus Down – and will be shown live on GAAGo. Over in Group 3, Donegal and Tyrone are set to battle at MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey at 7.15pm, also broadcast on GAAGo. Finally, Group 4’s game sees Louth take on Meath at Grattan Park, Inniskeen at 5.30pm.